A relaxing long weekend in Eleuthera

This last weekend we had two public holidays – Friday was Labor Day and Monday was Whit Monday – so it made for a lovely long break.  The weather was appalling for a holiday – I am talking about torrential rain – actually what we were getting was rain from Tropical Storm Alexa. So it was hunkering down time and only dodging out in the breaks between the downpours to walk Rudge.

Of course it gave us time to watch some of the highlights of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations which were pretty spectacular. The pageantry and ceremony are something that the British do extremely well – not that I am biased in anyway you understand !  Anyway it was a delight to hear of people in the US also celebrating the Queen’s 70 year reign with tea parties of their own.

On Saturday I had a shipment arrive on the boat which contained a bundle of new magazines as well as a book by my favorite writer – Alan Bennett. So I lay stretched out on the sofa and read it from cover to cover in a couple of hours. Now admittedly it is a pretty short book – but it was heaven to devour it in one sitting. Alan Bennett is a playwright but also publishes his diaries on a regular basis over the years. He is 88 now – so I am always excited when something new is published. House Arrest – Pandemic Diaries – is a short collection of his musings during lockdown. As always with his writing it is wry and funny and poignant and at times quietly sad – and the joy for me of reading it uninterrupted was something I was very conscious of. The gift of time and developing the art of doing pretty much nothing other than turning the page is something I hope to develop in the future as a new skill !

Sunday we had a wonderful lunch at Bacchus Fine Foods – followed by a trip down to Sprawling Towers to listen to the heavenly sound of rainwater cascading in to the water cistern. It is now pretty much full which is quite extraordinary given the size of it. It doesn’t seem long since I was slipping in a couple of pictures on to the blog of the water cistern without the slab for the house over it.

There were a lot of high winds as well as the torrential rain so it was with some trepidation that we set off for the airport early Monday afternoon to fly to Fort Lauderdale. We had to do a slight detour around Workers House on Queens Highway as the flooding was bad. However Stanton Cooper got us to the airport and we were quickly in the air. The flight was rather bumpy at times and a little nerve-racking – but the Aztec Airways pilot Arthur did a wonderful job with a couple of slightly longer detours in order to skirt the worst of the weather. I did give a huge sigh of relief when we landed I must confess.

Anyway – here we are in the land of plenty now – Bob visited our brilliant chiropractor Dr David Steiner who X rayed his neck and shoulders. I was hugely relieved to be told that everything was good after his surgery – nothing had slipped or moved out of place and after a small adjustment to Bob’s shoulder his range of movement was much better. It is always a pleasure to visit Dr Steiner and if any of you dear readers need a good chiropractor I will be delighted to recommend him.

We are staying in a different hotel to where we usually stay – The Conrad Hotel – which is an all suite hotel. As we are here for 5 nights this time I thought that having a kitchen would be very useful. It is well equipped and so good to have a fridge and be able to eat breakfast here. Eating what you want when you want it is a great thing don’t you think ? Last night we had sushi delivered to our room from the restaurant Takato in the hotel. It a Japanese / Korean fusion restaurant and I hope we get the chance to eat there in the actual restaurant on this trip.

Well that’s all for now folks – today is for both of us to see the dermatologist with dentist, orthodontist and eye specialist to come later in the week – not forgetting the hairdresser for me as well.

Take care , be kind and try a little of the art of doing nothing. It nourishes the soul I believe !